This is rather unique as a f/2 1:1 macro lens. I'm not aware of anyone else doing this in the past and may open up some new possibilities. Yes, there are much brighter primes in similar focal lengths, but none of them are 1:1 macro. As such I think there isn't any direct competition.

As a general use prime it should be good too. The bokeh potential should be roughly comparable to a 50mm f/1.8, although the macro will no doubt be much more expensive.

The minimum focus distance is 23cm, with a working distance of 10cm. They claim the working distance is a record for this class of lens. For comaprison, the Canon EF-S 60mm macro lens has a MFD of 20cm and is 70mm long, compared to the Tamron's 80mm length. Assuming the same registration distance, that puts the working distance of the Canon at 8cm?

Also sounding good is an internal focus design so the lens length doesn't change when focusing. That is a big annoyance I have with the current Tamron 90mm macro. If you take that into consideration, the working distance of the 90mm might not be much different...

Also interesting is the claim of a full time manual focus override mode. I'll be interested to see how this works, since Tamron so far have not produced any USM/HSM/SSM equivalent before, and it doesn't sound like they're starting now.

Will be in Canon, Nikon, Sony mounts. No date or price indication yet.

I think this is possibly the most exciting lens spec I've seen in a long time. If they can execute it well, I think this has good potential to be a big hit. Forgot to say, this is a crop sensor lens only.